I have been alluding to this for a while, but a while ago — before I moved to the US for a few months — I bought a house. The arrangement is fairly complex, but basically I bought part of the estate from my dad. In the picture below, the right hand side is mine. There are also some grassy bits out of frame that are ostensibly mine (I’m thinking about keeping chickens in my garden; what’cha reckon?)

I used to live in the top left corner. My parents are there now. In essence, the main thing I’ve gained is my own front door — and, as a rather nice corollary, the ability to walk around naked.

Anyway, my new house is completely unfurnished. It doesn’t even have a kitchen. All I have is a couple of pink bean bags, a fridge (but no where to prepare food, so it just contains case after case of Coke at the moment), and my computers. Over the next few weeks… it will become furnished!

At this point, you should look at my House set on Flickr. It has a bunch of photos of my house, as it is today. Click through (or open it in a new tab!) then come back here.

The tiler is meant to turn up tomorrow, to do the kitchen floor — but, of course, he’s not returning my calls at the moment. On Tuesday, my kitchen units arrive — and my bed (I’m sleeping on some shitty, dilapidated double mattress at the moment — reeeeally looking forward to my new king-size thing). I’m going to put the units together myself. Figure it can’t be too hard. (Will get some help for all the plumbing and stuff.)

Sofas are due to arrive in a couple of weeks. One is a lovely dark blue (azure) Italian leather thing; the other is a huge swivel arm chair thing, big enough for a couple of people (wink). I already have a fridge, as you can see (it’s moving, once the tiles are down!)

Then I need to buy a worktop for my kitchen (leaning towards walnut at the moment), and then another piece of wood that will become my desk (I don’t fit under normal desks, and they’re generally not designed for the number of screens I have). The desk will go against the wall on the right side of the living room (where the fridge is at the moment).

My bed will be in the big upstairs room. Not sure what will happen to the smaller upstairs room; probably just storage, or a guest room. Or maybe that’s where I can keep my maid.

I don’t really know what to do with the conservatory. It’s beautiful, but not very good for computer work. I could just turn it into some more living space, but I don’t think I’d use it. Might be worth doing up in case I rent the house out, though.

I was going to write all about the Joy Of DIY, and how tearing out fitted wardrobes made me feel Incredibly Manly, but I think I’ll save that for another post.

I still need to buy a ton of stuff: appliances (oven, washing machine), a TV, tables and other assorted furniture, and just about everything that will make the place “homely.” Rugs, plates to hang on the wall, art for the walls — I need it all! I’m open to ideas and suggestions, if you have any.

This site will probably turn into a bit of a decorating/DIY thing for a while. To make amends, I will invite you to my house warming party. I have a swimming pool.

20 Comments

I am in the midst of DIY hell, so I can tell you what not to do. Matt is currently sanding drywall right now in our weird secret hole in the living room wall, and I just realized that you can’t buy shelving to fit in such an odd little place. I just researched carpeting and carpet pads and it provides an overwhelming amount of choices. But for the love of god- do not watch any kind of DIY television shows, it will make you think you are more skilled in remodeling than you really are.

damn you have nice family digs!!!
kind of still in your parents property tho? it looks attached to the house?? anyway, i like it. didn’t realize you still had to buy things from family but business is business.

Sara — fortunately the house is pretty new (well, it’s 150 years old, but decorated a few years ago), so there shouldn’t be any particularly nasty/messy shit to do. I might have to buy some carpet though — quite excited about that. I watch almost zero TV (except for scripted dramas), so no worries there.

Thanks Ali. The plan is to have houses in a few countries, so…

Janet — think it depends on the family. I’ve been paying rent to my father for years. I can now rent this house out… so… it kind of makes sense to buy it; otherwise I’m just leeching off my parents. (Again, this probably depends from family to family.) Yes, it’s part of the same building.

Sure, Lizzy! But better once the weather improves and the daffodils come out properly, I think

Well, if you’re ever on the lookout for one around these parts I’d be happy to check a few out for you. I have been discovering some really interesting properties around here, and also uncovering much local history in trying to determine why there are very distinct architectural styles in pockets here and there. One property up the road that has its own winery attached, and another just around the corner that’s a doozy – old dairy farmhouse on half an acre hidden away, bit of a ‘fixer upper’ though.

OMG mr Seb I am in love with your ‘house’ and conservatory!!! I would totally see a really nice cozy room in there…or something. It would be awesome to look outside at sunset or when it rains or snow I can’t wait to see what this house looks like when you are done. Update with pictures please Love your new house!

Great looking digs, man. I bought my house last year from a guy who’d taken a lot of time to renovate it, so I really haven’t had to do anything. One thing I did do was mount my TV on the wall and the next project is to hide all the components in a rack in the basement.

Looks like you’ve got a wonderful space, can’t wait to see pictures of the finished project.

Wow, that place is amazing. And it has such lovely light! (Yeah I know predictable artist/photographer response.) I personally love the conservatory, but I am prone to love such things. I’ve looked at the photos on flickr, and it’s really coming along. I’m looking forward to seeing what the end result of everything turns out like. Doesn’t having your own place and making it yours feel so grown up? At least to me, having my own place and decorating it (etc), makes me feel like I finally am a proper adult.

I actually did read this post a while ago, but never got around to commenting–and complimenting Congrats! It’s beautiful! Especially the conservatory, though I too don’t know what I’d do with that space. Host tea parties, hire a harpist to play music in the background?

Hopefully you’ve settled in by now. I saw the photo of your swivel chair. Looks like you take up the whole thing by yourself

At least you’re still reading your RSS feeds — I’m so far behind. I need to just open the tab and START, but I keep putting it off. I wonder if the blogosphere will forgive me for my six-month sabbatical…

Yeah, pretty much settled in now. I need to take a few more photos and write another blog post. Maybe I can do that this weekend!